Archives for November 2013

I am a member of the Make It: Fun® Team. This DIY Starburst Christmas Wreath is sponsored FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam. All opinions are honest and mine, like always.

Incorporate the chalkboard craze into a fun starburst Christmas wreath made with dollar store Christmas patterned pencils and a FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam wreath form! This project is easy, quick and cheap. Use it for gift lists, holiday greetings or a letter for santa!

SUPPLIES:

FloraCraft® Make It: Fun® Foam wreath form

Dollar Tree Christmas Pencils

Hot Glue Gun and Sticks

Cardboard cut in a circle the size you want your chalkboard

Burlap Wire Ribbon

Black chalkboard paint

one inch foam or paint brush

TUTORIAL:

Put a dab of hot glue on the end of the pencils and shove them into wreath at varying depths. It doesn’t matter if the eraser comes through to the center of the wreath because you are covering the hole with your chalkboard later.

These hand painted rustic signs are a little addictive, and pretty easy to make. Pam from Little Red Porch came over and showed us her technique in this DIY Rustic Wood Sign . I made a video showing you how to use Photoshop to print your text in sections so you can tape them together for transferring large art to wood in this Americana Chalky Finish Paint Sign Tutorial. Today I am sharing this Merry and Bright sign, as well as the text file for you to print off to create your own like I showed you in the links above mentioned.

To download the printable, right click the thumbnail and the full resolution file will pop up for you to print.

Today I have another scrap wood/ pallet wood project to help you get in the Christmas spirit. There is a video showing how to create adorable trees from your scrap pile that you can use as decor, card holders, advent calendars, outdoor decor, gifts and more. The larger one I am using as a card display. Super cute, quick and easy to make, these primitive trees are the way to go.

SUPPLIES:

Scrap wood

Wood glue

Mitre saw

Brad Nailer

Wire and hooks for Christmas card holder

Paint if you want to paint your trees

TUTORIAL:

I had the wonderful opportunity to try out the new Americana Decor Chalky Finish paint, available online at Home Depot. You can have it shipped to your home, or to your local Home Depot for free pick-up! This product is perfect for creating distressed signs, which is what I am sharing with you today. I am most impressed by the huge color palette, the high quality of the paint, the ease of distressing and the variety of mediums and finishing options. There are so many things I plan to do with this stuff, but for now…

The technique is the same as this rustic sign DIY from guest artist Pam of The Little Red Porch, using the chalky finish paint. I also added a video illustrating how to use Photoshop to print sections of your sign for taping together and transferring onto the wood. We had several questions on that part in the first post, so hopefully things will be clearer, at least for those of you who use Photoshop.

Begin with a piece of scrap wood in the size you want your sign. I have tons of the stuff lying around here. The 2 signs I am using for this tutorial are on very different wood. The Proverbs verse is on rough MDF, and the other is on smooth ply wood. Both have their place, depending on the look you are trying to achieve. I prefer the smoother, I discovered.

My cheap foam brush worked great for the background. I used the chalky finish paint in “Primitive” for my background. Great coverage, especially on this chippy, rough surface! While that is drying…

Create your text using your favorite software. Print your artwork in sections if your sign is larger than your printer will print. Here is how to do that with Photoshop:

Tape image sections together. You may need to cut off any border your printer added where the sections meet.

Place transfer paper between text and wood and trace letters with stylus or pen.

Once your text is transferred, fill it in with your color of choice. I used Carbon for the black, Everlasting for the white, and a mixture of Romance and Innocence for the pink color.

Just use a small round paintbrush. I like to use watercolor brushes for hand lettering with paint. I wet them first and it seems to help the flow. Play around until you figure out what works best for you.

I applied the dark brown creme wax over the top of the clear creme wax, with a lint free cloth. Wipe back to remove excess, working in a few inch sections at a time. If you find you have overdone it with the dark and can’t wipe away enough, you can use the clear wax to pull it up. Just dip a clean cloth in the clear and wipe the area that is too dark.

For the “Awesome” sign, I cut the text out and made a stencil with my Cricut. Also, I painted it on smooth ply sheets. I used the soft varnish finish instead of wax, and it is velvety fabulousness.

No newspaper passes from these hands to the recycling center, nope. There are way to many uses for them to let that happen. I was reminded of my coiled newsprint crafting days by HGTV’s roundup of creative newspaper projects to make. Decorate your fingernails, your shoes, even create your own woven gift bags from this abundant supply.

Still on the lookout for crafts using recycled materials? We’ve got you covered…

Just scroll through using the arrows to see all of our recycled craft projects!
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I was pondering what to do with the ever growing pile of scrap wood in my work room, when it occurred to me that you might have the same quandary. I started searching and was amazed to find everything from toys, to storage to jewelry to home decor and more. Lots of cool wall art and holiday decor projects are waiting for you and your scraps. Get going!

I saw this idea in Flea Market Magazine and had to give it a go. It is super fast and easy, and costs not much. You don’t even need to buy plate wall hangers. I will be showing you a cheap way to display your plates on the wall using safety pins!

Today I am sharing how to create a mixed media portrait on scrap wood. This project involves layering acrylic paint, distress ink and paper with Mod Podge for a unique and personal piece of art that is all you! Some of you may be thinking, “but I can’t draw or paint”. Yes you can. Last year at some point I ordered a video from Cloth Paper Scissors Called All about Faces, with mixed media artist Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. This fantastic workshop helped me overcome my fear of creating faces, and drove home the fact that we may not all be able to draw realistically, but we can all draw and our art will get it’s point across!

Run a smooth or textured brayer through 2 colors of acrylic paint that coordinate with your background papers. I used green and Titan Buff. Randomly run brayer over papers to create background interest. Add one or 2 drops of alcohol ink in to leftover paint and brayer in different areas. Let dry.

Sketch outline of object. Fill in skin and clothing with acrylic wash (water plus paint) and dab with paper towels to reveal paper underneath until you are happy with the look.

Paint in the details as shown and let dry. Outline with fine detail watercolor brush and black acrylic paint. The video linked above gives great tips for face painting, but basically use 3 colors; light, medium and dark for creating the dimension.

I ended up tearing strips of washi tap and filling in the arms and skirt. I used distress stain to color the skirt. I stamped “Love” with black acrylic paint. The lettering around the head I did with size 0 paintbrush and black acrylic paint. Play with hand lettering on scrap paper to get the feel for it.